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Leftover Corned Beef Soup with Sauerkraut and Tomatoes

If you have leftover corned beef on hand, this Leftover Corned Beef Soup with Sauerkraut and Tomatoes is a tasty way to use it, and this soup is low-carb, low-glycemic, gluten-free, and I'd eat it as an occasional treat for the South Beach Diet. Use the Recipes-by-Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

By the time most people read this it will be St. Patrick's Day, and I'm guessing you might be cooking Pressure Cooker Corned Beef or Corned Beef in the Crockpot. I've been experimenting with recipes for leftover corned beef, and this Leftover Corned Beef Soup with Sauerkraut and Tomatoes is the happy result.

This recipe was inspired by Ground Beef and Sauerkraut Soup, but the finished soup was quite different in flavor. I ate it with some Swiss cheese sprinkled on top (to continue the decomposed Reuben Sandwich theme) and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar. And I didn't have any, but 100% Whole Wheat Irish Brown Bread would have been the perfect thing to dip into the soup. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Let's get one thing out of the way for South Beach Dieters before we talk about the recipe. Yes, I know that corned beef isn't really allowed on the South Beach Diet because of the saturated fat. I do recommend you choose the leanest corned beef you can find, and I trim off lots of fat when I cook it.

But I also think that life is too short to give up something like Corned Beef on St. Patrick's Day, even if you're on a diet. I have it for a once-a-year treat, and don't feel the least bit guilty. And this soup has lots of vegetables in proportion to the amount of corned beef, making it a very diet-friendly way to use the leftovers.

Chop up a large onion, then saute in olive oil for about 5 minutes; add minced garlic and thyme and saute 2-3 minutes more.

I had this enormous jar of sauerkraut from Costco and used about half of it for the soup. (Sauerkraut in a jar or fresh sauerkraut has much better flavor than canned, in my opinion.)

Drain 4 cups sauerkraut. (I didn't rinse, but you can if you want a less-sour flavor. The bottled sauerkraut is fairly mild, so taste to see what you think.)

Cut corned beef into slices about 1/4 inch thick, then shred apart with your fingers. (I pulled off some strips of fat as well.)

When the sauerkraut was drained, I chopped it both ways with a big chef's knife because I don't like long strings of sauerkraut in soup!

After 30 minutes, add the sauerkraut, shredded corned beef, and 1 T brown sugar or Splenda to the soup (along with a little water if it seems too thick) and simmer 15 minutes more.

Stir in 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, season to taste with lots of fresh ground black pepper and serve hot. I ate it with Swiss cheese sprinkled on top and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and wished I'd had some 100% Whole Wheat Irish Brown Bread to dip into the soup!

Leftover Corned Beef Soup with Sauerkraut and Tomatoes
(Makes about 6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

Chop one large onion to make 1 1/2 cups chopped onion. Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot, add onion and saute about 5 minutes, or until the onions are starting to get lightly browned. Add minced garlic and dried thyme and saute 2-3 minutes more.

Add chicken stock, beef stock, diced tomatoes with juice, Worcestershire sauce, chopped parsley, and bay leaves and let soup simmer on low for 30 minutes. While soup simmers, drain the sauerkraut in a colander placed in the sink. Cut corned beef into 1/4 inch thick slices, then shred apart with your fingers into small pieces. When sauerkraut is drained, squeeze out any remaining moisture with your hands, put sauerkraut on cutting board, and coarsely chop with large chef's knife.

After 30 minutes, add sauerkraut, corned beef, and brown sugar (or Splenda) to the soup. Stir soup to see if it's getting too thick, and add about 1 cup more water if needed. (I added this to mine.) Let soup simmer 15 minutes more.

After 15 minutes, stir in 1 T balsamic vinegar and season to taste with fresh ground black pepper. (The sauerkraut is salty, so I didn't add any salt.) Serve hot, sprinkled with grated Swiss cheese and an extra drizzle of balsamic vinegar if desired.

This is a great soup for low-carb and low-glycemic diet plans. As I said, corned beef isn't really recommended for the South Beach Diet, due to the amount of saturated fat. However, if you indulge in it for a special occasion like St. Patrick's Day, this soup is packed with other low-glycemic ingredients which makes it a healthful way to use the leftovers.

If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you're a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

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Kalyn, is there such possible thing as leftover corned beef? My Irish MIL makes it every year for St. Patrick's Day and I eat so much of it, never leaving anything over. I might next time though just to try this delicious soup. I like the sauerkraut in there. Nice touch.

Thought you'd love this one - - my third graders and I were singing an Irish song today which had a phrase about corn beef and cabbage. They were clueless so I popped up your blog on the projector and showed them the pix from a few days ago. The kiddos said they were hungry. So know I'm still reading and using your blog for more than recipes! :>) Lynette

I saw this recipe today and made it tonight--I didn't have any left over corned beef, so i just bought a can. Probably not as tasty as the original, but it's what I'm used to. This soup is delicious, and was very quick to put together. It will get eaten many more times than just around St. Pat's day!

I made this yesterday and was surprised at how good it turned out. I thought the sauerkraut might overwhelm the soup but it didn't - it mellowed and tasted more like cabbage.

I made a few changes - left out the parsley since I didn't have any - and substituted a honey mustard glaze I'd used on my corned beef for the brown sugar - the mustard was a nice addition to the soup.

Hi Kalyn. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your recipes. Thank you so much for taking the time to create and share them. Just saw this recipe and would like to make it. Do you think this could be converted to a crockpot recipe? I work 10 hour days and would love it to just be ready when I got home tomorrow. :)

I can't honestly say how this would work in the crockpot. I worry about the corned beef all shredding apart if it was cooked all day. If you try it, I'd reduce the amount of liquid by at least a cup or so.

I tried your recipe and found it to be a tasty treat. I almost followed your directions but added the sauerkraut along with the other liquids and cooked for about 1/2 hour. I added the corned beef(deli bought)to my serving bowl at this point allowing the soup to warm the CB. The kraut, balsamic and brown sugar combo goes into the memory banks--have you tried it with Kielbasa or roast pork?Thanks,MikeG

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